Days of Our Nights

Maybe it's the lone, dusty sunbeam crossing our desk, or the sad man in shorty shorts waiting at our bus stop; somehow, DOON's mind has lately turned to thoughts of spring, and the announcement of this year's Coachella Festival lineup in Indio, Calif., has it going full speed ahead. The annual event's official Web site is still blanker than Avril Lavigne's punk-rock r鳵m鬠but industry gossip has provided us with these nearly locked-down names: Beastie Boys, N.E.R.D., the White Stripes, the Soundtrack of Our Lives, Fischerspooner, Ladytron, Felix Da Housecat, Stereo Total, Johnny Marr, Polyphonic Spree, Cat Power, Joseph Arthur, Hot Hot Heat, Primal Scream, and many more. Though the event isn't until April 26-27, tickets go on sale Feb. 22 on Ticketmaster, and we must say we are mighty tempted to get ourselves some southern (Cali) comfort. . . . Speaking of hyped-up shows, Interpol performed to a foaming-at-the-mouth capacity crowd last Thursday night at the Showbox and were . . . not bad. Having recently sold a staggering 100,000 records for pleased-as-punch Matador and made a showing on nearly every critic's year-end list, they dutifully performed The Hits and then some, but still seemed to be just sort of going through the motions. Buck up, boys?even Ian Curtis must have smiled a few times before he finally reached for the rope. . . . Meanwhile, our own usually highly judgmental Steve Wiecking nearly lost his panties at David Gray's KeyArena show that same night, as he tells us here: "Gray's music can have such a sameness to it, there was no way you could have expected the kick-ass band and his own energy, which made the show so satisfying. And, man, the voice?that melodious howl somewhere between Dylan and Van Morrison (whom he ably covered on 'And It Stoned Me')?walks right up your spine when he's in full roar: 'Please Forgive Me,' the final encore, left several puddles on the stadium floor." . . . We ourselves heartily enjoyed the Magic

PJ Harvey: crazy like a fox.

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Magicians' always-tight performance at Chop Suey Saturday night, and as for gorgeously poppy openers the Vells, they just keep getting better. Apparently, the band was producing enough heat onstage to persuade drummer Jeremiah Green (you may already know of him via a little band called Modest Mouse) to complete the set topless. . . . Fans of the Faint may wonder what Omaha's best hot-to-trot dark-wavers have been up to, and here's a partial answer: They've recently completed a song called "Take Me to the Hospital" for an upcoming Saddle Creek comp, and are planning a U.S. spring tour in conjunction with SC/Astralwerk's joint release of a Danse Macabre remix album, featuring the likes of Les Rythmes Digitales, Paul Okenfold, Ursula 1000, and more, due March 25. . . . Also out on Astralwerks that same date: Frenchie duo Air's oddball return following 2001's 10,000 Hz Legend, to be called City Reading: Tre Storie Western. The album?dubbed "not an official Legend follow-up" by a band spokesperson?features Italian writer Alessandro Baricco reading his text over the pair's breezy compositions. . . . In other collaborative newsy bits, Yoko Ono is teaming up with the Pet Shop Boys to record a dance-music version of her late husband John Lennon's final song, "Walking on Thin Ice" (coming soon to a Neighbors dance floor near you?), and PJ Harvey is set to guest on local boy Mark Lanegan's upcoming solo release later this year. You may recall she's already been in the U.S. working with Mark's sometime bandmates Queens of the Stone Age. In addition, Harvey is in the midst of writing her own record, due sometime this spring-ish, and collaborating with Marianne Faithfull in the meantime. Busy bee, that one. . . . Also, if you're wondering what exactly the status is on R.E.M.'s follow-up to 2001's Reveal, which they've been working on in Vancouver lo these many moons, it turns out that, according to guitarist/air-rage acquittee Peter Buck

(DOON's own airplane seatmate of choice), they've currently got "four albums' worth of stuff floating around." He continues: "We have so many songs right now. It's a little frustrating for everyone, because we can't figure out what exactly the record is." So, the band's planning on taking a break for a European and North American tour this year (more airplanes!) before returning once again to the studio. . . . Lovers of arty hardcore, take heed: Those who think Dillinger Escape Plan just ain't the same since vocalist Dimitri Minikakis split after a 2000 European tour with Seattle's own dearly departed Botch, buck up. DEP's former frontman has recently emerged with a new act of his own, called Tokyo, who are just finishing up a round of demos. . . . If it wasn't for charity, we'd just say eww. But Mogwai, currently at work on their fourth album, recently put drummer Martin Bulloch's pacemaker up for sale on eBay for a good cause: the British Heart Foundation. The group sweetened the pot with Bulloch's pacemaker ID and hospital wristband, plus a Japanese version of their My Father My King and a vinyl test-pressing of Rock Action, which went for 210 (about $350 U.S.) to one lucky bidder. . . . And now for the Really Important News: Gwyneth has reportedly dumped Coldplay frontman Chris Martin like a nonorganic potato, even though mere weeks ago Martin had gotten an entire St. Louis crowd to sing "Happy Birthday" to Gwyn's mom, Blythe, into his cell phone during a show. And the recently dismissed Fred Durst has not only removed all posts on limpbizkit.com expressing his grammatically challenged love for Britney, but is now denying he ever produced a track on her upcoming album, despite her people's previous confirmation. Says the Limp one: "I didn't produce any songs for Britney Spears. She's just got a great ass." . . . And finally, our thoughts go out to Chop Suey booker Steve Severin, finally on the road to recovery following a nasty car accident a few

weeks ago that left him unwillingly horizontal and out of commission. Hopefully, he'll be all better in time to catch his own stellar booking of the Streets on March 15.